Senator Simon Birmingham has accused Environment Minister Peter Garrett of stalling in a bid to avoid scrutiny over the impact of the Rudd Government’s new means test on solar rebates. It follows confirmation Mr Garrett instructed his Department to pull out of appearing at today’s Senate Committee first hearings into the impact of…
DetailsThe Rudd Government must use today’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting to make decisions that deliver immediate certainty for the solar industry, Liberal Senator Simon Birmingham said today. With support for solar installations listed as an agenda item for today’s meeting in Perth, Senator Birmingham said the Rudd Government also needed to…
DetailsMelissa Parke, Member for Fremantle, and Chair of the Parliamentary Association for UNICEF, and Senator Simon Birmingham, the Association’s Deputy Chair have called on concerned Australians to donate to UNICEF’s emergency appeal in order to provide life saving essentials for those affected by Cyclone Nargis. Donations can be made by visiting www.unicef.org.au or…
DetailsSouth Australian Senator Simon Birmingham has labelled the last minute withdrawal by Environment Department officials from today’s hearings into the impact of the new means test on solar rebates as disgraceful and contemptuous. “Does Minister Garrett really have so much to hide that he needs to pull his officials from attending these hearings…
DetailsCoalition Senators think the Lower Lakes can be saved, despite the Rudd Government waving the white flag on preserving them as freshwater. Coalition Senators have issued Additional Comments to the Government-controlled majority report of a Senate committee inquiry into water management of the Lower Lakes and Coorong, released today. The most damning…
DetailsClaims that estimated water savings underpinning a controversial planned pipeline have been inflated must be investigated, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. The claims have today been presented by the ‘Plug the Pipe’ campaign to a Senate committee inquiry into a Bill designed to prevent the Sugarloaf or ‘North-South’ pipeline from sending 75 billion…
DetailsPlans to rip out an extra 75 billion litres of water a year from the Murray-Darling Basin should be abandoned in light of revelations the stressed system might already not be able to meet basic human needs, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. Senator Birmingham said it was astonishing that the Victorian and Australian…
DetailsThousands of households could be forced to pay a second time just for access to free-to-air television in a ‘best case’ scenario, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. The revelation has come in questioning of Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and departmental officials as part of Senate Additional Estimates. “Having already paid to install…
DetailsA key election commitment of the Rudd Government appears to be in disarray and no closer to reality nearly two years after first being promised, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. Ongoing delays have already beset the Government’s Green Loans program, details of which were announced on Budget night last May. Questioning in…
DetailsRudd Government assurances that water ripped out of the Murray-Darling Basin and piped to Melbourne would be matched by increased environmental flows appear to have been exposed as baseless, Senator Simon Birmingham said today. The proposed extraction of up to 75 billion litres of water a year towards Melbourne’s urban water supply has…
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